


eunhae | a thousand colours, a thousand years

by plincess_cho (ai_hao)



Series: 1+1=Love | Donghae x Eunhyuk [7]
Category: Super Junior
Genre: EunHae, Fluff, Gen, Through the Years, it's never au lol, my loves, non-au, soft pups as always
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 21:19:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15373548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ai_hao/pseuds/plincess_cho
Summary: A lot of things change in twenty years, specifically the colour of Hyukjae's hair.





	eunhae | a thousand colours, a thousand years

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate Title: "Saw you at your worst and still thought you were the best."

When Donghae meets Hyukjae for the first time, his hair is dark and cropped short. It spikes up on the side and is in need of a good trim. Donghae’s hair is long and keeps falling in his face. He brushes it out of his eyes as Jungsoo introduces him to the new trainee. Hyukjae offers him a half smile, and Donghae grins broadly, hair falling back into his face.

By the time they debut, Hyukjae’s hair has grown out significantly. They’ve dyed it light brown and add in extensions for the jacket shooting. Donghae’s own hair is bleached a hideous blonde, and the stylists fluff it all over. He doesn’t have time to feel self-conscious; after all, they’re  _ finally _ debuting. He looks over at Hyukjae as the photographer snaps photo after photo, and Hyukjae looks back at him, giving him a hopeful smile. They finish shooting, and Donghae reaches back to gently tug on Hyukjae’s extensions. They’re temporary, just like Super Junior05, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if they lasted longer?

When they shoot for the mini drama, Donghae’s hair has gone back to a light brown, but Hyukjae is still blonde. Donghae hooks his leg around Hyukjae’s waist, pulling him closer. Hyukjae is a bright red, and he buries his face into Donghae’s shoulder to avoid the cameras. His hair tickles Donghae’s nose, and Donghae tries his best to shift into a more comfortable position. Finally, they settle against each other, Donghae practically on top of Hyukjae, holding him close. “We often sleep like this in the dorms,” Donghae says for no apparent reason. And they do, those late nights when Donghae sneaks into Hyukjae’s room and crawls into his tiny twin bed next to him. Sometimes he cries, sometimes Hyukjae does, and sometimes they’ll just hold each other until they fall asleep. They’re both homesick beyond belief, but this helps.

Hyukjae has orange hair that doesn’t match his eyebrows by the time Donghae stops crying himself to sleep every night. It’s been over a year since the funeral, and so many terrible things have happened since then. Donghae tugs at his own blonde and brown hair as he looks in the mirror. These days, he doesn’t recognize the person staring back at him. They’ve been through so many hair changes lately, and he’s never seen the circles under his eyes so dark. Yet as he looks over, he sees Hyukjae brushing his teeth with his eyes closed, practically falling asleep standing up. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed: the person standing next to him, on and off the stage that they’ve grown to call home.

When Donghae comes back from China, Hyukjae’s hair is back to being brown, but Donghae’s hair is far more interesting. It hangs to his shoulders and turns into a sweaty mess whenever he dances. He’s taken to tying it up when it gets too hot, and Hyukjae finds that beyond amusing, tugging at Donghae’s ponytail whenever he wants Donghae’s attention. Yet it’s back at the dorms where Hyukjae will run his fingers through Donghae’s hair absentmindedly, playing with the long strands. It feels nice, Donghae thinks, and he tilts his head in Hyukjae’s direction to give him better access. 

Their hair colors match when they film for “Sorry, Sorry.” Hyukjae thinks it’s the dumbest song he’s ever heard, but Donghae thinks it’s okay. Hyukjae’s hair covers the back of his neck, and it brushes against Donghae’s nose when he’s pressed against Hyukjae’s back, holding him close as he sleeps. There’s an uneasy tension around the dorm that Donghae can’t identify. Nobody has seen Kibum in weeks, even though he’s supposed to be living with them, and Donghae holds onto what he still has in his grasp. For now, that’s Hyukjae.

They’re filming for  _ Bonamana _ , and Donghae still feels off-kilter. He wants to hide from the world until they figure all of this out, just like the hats the stylists give Hyukjae hide his new hair from the camera. It’s short on the sides and longer on top, and Donghae’s got these swishy bangs that won’t stay out of his face. It vaguely reminds him of the hair he had before they’d started down this journey, and Donghae wonders what his hair would look like if he wasn't famous. “Wouldn’t your hair be the same as Donghwa’s?” Hyukjae asks, and Donghae has to agree. He wonders what Hankyung will do now that he’s left their group, and it almost hurts too much to think about. They’ve already edited his voice out of the album and have re-recorded over it, and it hurts to think about how quickly someone’s voice can be erased. Donghae takes one look at Hyukjae and wonders what it would be like to never hear his voice again. He chokes up, and before he knows it, he’s clinging to a rather-oblivious Hyukjae and mumbling nonsense about how he can’t leave. To his credit, Hyukjae just holds him close and strokes the back of his hair.

Hyukjae’s blonde hair will always remind Donghae of the beginning of D&E. Hyukjae enters the practice room straight from the hairdresser’s sporting a honey blonde color. Everyone else is late, no surprise, and the two of them turn on the music and start goofing around. They’re dancing and dancing, and suddenly Donghae says, “What if we started our own subunit?” Hyukjae laughs somewhat incredulously, but he doesn’t say no. 

At some point, they switch: Hyukjae is brown, and Donghae is a sort of gaudy orange that someone had mistaken for blonde. They go to Taiwan together this time, and even though Donghae is often off filming for  _ Skip Beat! _ instead of joining the others for  _ Celebrity Tour Guides _ , it’s still eons better than the times he’d gone without Hyukjae. At the end of their stay, they ride the elevator up to the observation deck on Taipei 101 and look out over the city. The wind blows through their hair, and Donghae digs in his bag for his camera. He wants to remember this moment, he realizes, and takes a photo of the two of them together with the city lights twinkling in the background. They peer at the camera’s screen to evaluate the photo, and Donghae wonders how many photos they must have like this. He knows that in a few weeks they’ll be in a different city with different haircuts but they’ll still be grinning at the camera with their bright eyes and stupid smiles.

By the time they actually release their first D&E single, Hyukjae’s hair has been honey blonde, bleach blonde, and finally dirty blonde. He complains that his scalp hurts from all of the bleaching, but at least it’s out of his face now. During their promotions for 5jib, Donghae had always had to push Hyukjae’s hair back out of his face to look him in the eyes. “You’ll give me acne!” Hyukjae had complained every time Donghae touched his forehead. But now Donghae can look him in the dark-lined eyes even when his hair is down. He’s got a lot of eyeliner on these days, at least when they’re in public. The stylists had decided that it was Hyukjae’s thing, but Donghae isn’t sure he likes it. The eyeliner is for Eunhyuk, the stage persona and superstar, but it’s Hyukjae’s bare eyes that Donghae sees when he feels Hyukjae poking him awake in the morning so they can go to schedules. It’s nice waking up to someone, especially when that someone is the person he feels closest to in the world. Sometimes, Donghae pulls him down onto the bed and falls back asleep, and sometimes, Hyukjae doesn’t protest but lets himself be held hostage in Donghae’s embrace.

Their hair matches again in 2012, and it makes Donghae happy. In more ways than one, he feels like it further cements them as a team, as a pair. Teuk-hyung is enlisting in the fall, and even though he and Heechul-hyung are the same age, they won’t be enlisting together. Donghae supposes it makes sense, and besides, Teuk-hyung and Heechul-hyung are polar opposites in almost every way. He and Hyukjae on the other hand have much more in common, and he assumes that they’ll be enlisting together. They are the same age after all. Enlistment had always seemed so far away, but now it looms ever closer. Donghae tries not to think about it, but he knows he can’t avoid it forever. As long as he’s with Hyukjae, he thinks it’ll be okay.

Blue is a new color, and Donghae can’t keep himself from touching Hyukjae’s fringe in awe. It’s surprisingly soft, which Donghae repeats over and over. Hyukjae doesn’t even hide it under a hat when they go down to the river to see the sunrise. It’s freezing, and Hyukjae makes some dumb joke about how he’s so cold that his hair turned blue. Donghae laughs despite himself and says something dumb about wanting to start every new year off like this. “Making dumb jokes?” Hyukjae asks. “No, watching the sunrise with you,” Donghae replies, his voice growing soft. They stare out at the morning sky and talk about the past, the future, and everything in between. He reaches out to take Hyukjae’s hand, and Hyukjae lets him, right as the sun peaks over the horizon.

They leave for South America with undercuts dyed red and blonde respectively, and their world expands again. Every time they visit a new country, Donghae gets hit with an overwhelming sense of gratitude and finds himself tearing up at the awe of it all. This time is no different, and they walk through the city with Donghae taking photos of literally everything. Hyukjae’s walking around with giant sunglasses and what he pretends is a cape, and Donghae just laughs. They’re losing members faster these days thanks to enlistment, and he’s glad Hyukjae is still with him. He thinks that even if everything else changed, it would still be okay if he had Hyukjae.

By the time they enlist, Donghae thinks they’ve had just about every hairstyle imaginable. They’ve gone back and forth between brown and blonde so many times, that Donghae wonders why they haven’t gone bald yet. Sometimes he pushes his hair back and wonders if his hairline is further back than the day before. Some of the hyungs have started using hair loss products, and Donghae wonders if it’s time for him to start. It doesn’t matter though because he’s required to shave all of his hair off next week anyways. He can’t believe that enlistment has come so quickly, but more than that, he can’t believe that he and Hyukjae aren’t enlisting together. He’d taken the police exam, Hyukjae had opted for active duty. They aren’t even enlisting on the same day, and somehow that makes things simultaneously better and worse. Hyukjae shows up at the restaurant after his magazine shoot with his head freshly shaved, and Donghae immediately chokes up. It’s all becoming real now, and he knows that his turn is coming in a mere 48 hours. They spend their last night curled up together in a bed much larger than the tiny twin beds from their early days, and Donghae rubs Hyukjae’s head gently. “It’s so short,” he murmurs, and Hyukjae, who had been so full of bravado and charm at the restaurant with the others, deflates. “I’m scared,” he whispers. “So am I,” Donghae whispers back. He clings tightly to Hyukjae and tries to stop the passing of time. 

“I’d never thought that I would miss having hair so much,” Hyukjae says. He’s staring in the mirror and running his hands through his hair, now long but still as dark as it was in the army. Donghae’s gone a silvery blonde, and he wonders if this is what he’ll look like when his hair turns gray. If he lets it, that is. They’re preparing for their first comeback since their discharges from the military, and it feels surreal. In some ways, it feels like their very first comeback all those years ago with “Miracle.” They’d gone through so much hair gel in those days, and now they’re passing around hair restoration products instead. It’s funny how things change, Donghae thinks as he looks at Hyukjae examining himself. Some things, anyways.

The blue mullet is Donghae’s idea, but it’s Hyukjae who truly pulls it off, much to everyone’s surprise. Donghae wonders if there’s any haircut Hyukjae can’t pull off. They’ve endured so many terrible haircuts over the years, and he can’t decide if he likes all of the styles on Hyukjae or if he just likes Hyukjae. He concludes that it’s probably the latter as said Hyukjae finally pulls the covers off his head and sits up in bed, his tri-colored hair sticking out every which way. He blinks at Donghae who has been up for a solid hour, nursing an americano, and Donghae can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous he looks. “Good morning, sleeping beauty,” he says, and Hyukjae gives him a death glare, or as much of one as he can muster after just waking up. He stumbles towards the bathroom, scratching at his stomach and yawning loudly, and Donghae stares after him with more fondness than he has ever felt. It’s these stolen moments, the moments that they have to themselves and no one else, that he thinks he loves Hyukjae more than anyone in the entire world. Blue hair and all.

“What happens when I’m bald and wrinkly?” Hyukjae asks as he stands in front of the mirror, plucking a gray hair from his scalp. “I’ll still love you,” Donghae replies, coming up behind Hyukjae. He slides his arms around Hyukjae’s waist and rests his chin on Hyukjae’s shoulder to look in the mirror as well. “Really?” Hyukjae asks. “Of course,” Donghae replies without hesitation. He thinks back through all of the years they’ve known each other and all of the hairstyles they’ve endured. The walls of their apartments are covered with photos that they’ve taken together through the past nearly two decades. Each photo is a different moment with a different story and a different hairstyle, but the two people staring back at the camera never change. “Blonde hair, brown hair, blue hair, no hair, it doesn’t matter,” Donghae says. Hyukjae reddens at the cheesiness that still causes him to blush, even after all this time. Donghae nuzzles against Hyukjae’s neck and pulls him closer. 

There are some things that change in the blink of an eye. Other things change with the seasons, and others change gradually like the wave that gently wears down the rock over years and years. Yet some things never change, and Donghae thinks that Hyukjae is one of those things. His hair has changed a lot over the years, but he’s still the person Donghae loves the most in the world.

Bald, or not.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love ♡  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/plincess_cho) // [tumblr](http://plincess-cho.tumblr.com/)


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